


Spring Will Always Come

by Velocity_Owl87



Category: Marvel (Movies), Norse Mythology, Thor - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Female Thor, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Implied or Off-stage Rape/Non-con, Miscarriage, Rape Aftermath, Rape Recovery, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Love, Unplanned Pregnancy, discussions of abortion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-29
Updated: 2012-11-29
Packaged: 2017-11-19 20:20:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/577260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velocity_Owl87/pseuds/Velocity_Owl87
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki had saved her from captivity and brutalization in Jotunheim, his beloved sister whom he'd do anything for. Except to hurt her (even at her request) once they discover she's pregnant.  </p>
<p>Now he had to watch her fade away as she went through a path that was slowly killing her.</p>
<p>At least until fate intervened. Now he could only hope she'd come back to him again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spring Will Always Come

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the super dark stories. This is a loose sequel to "Tarnishing Her Soul", but can be read as a standalone. I tried to portray the events respectfully and not use it as a trope. I started writing this to explore a possible aftermath of what if Thor had been a woman and stolen and how Loki would try to help his sister and what limits he could possibly have here. 
> 
> I'm writing Loki as much younger and fully aware of his heritage, since all of the myths I have read have him as the product of a dalliance of Odin and Laufey (a giantess) and Thor(a) has red hair.

It had been too quiet after he had rescued Thora from Jotunheim and they had found out the extent of her brutalization at their hands. The war had swung in their favour and Jotunheim had been defeated, leaving them to skulk back in the shadows with only a fraction of their old power left to them.

But it had been a Pyrrhic victory for Asgard.

Their princess had been all but destroyed and she hadn't been since the last big feast to celebrate the crowning of Prince Loki right before the war had been declared between Jotunheim and Asgard.

The All Father had tried to end the rumours, but it was all but common knowledge that the Princess was carrying a half-Jotun babe and the father could have been anyone from Laufey to his generals. There was talk of retaliation, but that was quickly quashed when the Casket of Winters was publicly placed in the weapons vault.

But the people still didn't forget the Princess and many of them still wondered what would become of her and her bastard child.

Loki knew of the mutterings and whisperings of his populace and had to admit that his sister's position was a delicate one. She had changed, as was expected after being incarcerated and abused as she had been.

But he had hoped, that once he had rescued her and brought her home, that she would be able to come back. That she'd heal and be the sister that he had remembered from before.

He had an inkling that wasn't to be quite the case when she had asked him to cut out the child from her. He still regretted not doing as she had requested. Regretted it, yet he couldn't go through with it. Even if he had lied to himself in it being for her benefit...He couldn't bring himself to spill her blood. Even at her request.

She hadn't spoken of it again. Hadn't spoken at all, if he was honest.

Thora had simply remained silent in her room, her belly growing as the summer turned to autumn and winter crept into Asgard. Her gaze was always distant, or turned inward as if she was looking for something inside herself.

That was how she had been when he had come in earlier that day, hoping that she would want to come out and walk with him in the garden now that the autumn was fading out in brilliant shades of yellow, orange and red.

They hadn't expected it, Loki thought to himself wryly as he hid in his room. Out of all the things that they had worried about, Thora bleeding hadn't been it. He closed the door behind himself and pulled out another dusty book on the Jotun and skimmed it, looking for any information that he could pass on to his mother and the midwife attending Thora.

He knew that he wasn't exactly going to be useful. He wasn't a woman, and even though he was a half-Jotun, he hadn't a clue as to how it could affect his sister. He really hoped not. His hand clenched involuntarily at the thought of losing her. Having watched her suffer through the aftermath of the brutality she had undergone while in captivity, he hoped that this new obstacle wouldn't be a large one.

He knew his sister was strong. Scarily so. But that didn't mean that he wasn't afraid for her. He just wished he had an answer for why it was happening and how to stop it without harming Thora.

All he knew was that he had been sitting with her, trying to coax her to talk and come out with him. He hadn't missed the irony of the situation when she had stiffened and looked at him with an expression of pure horror on her face. She had stumbled to her feet and the movement must have caused something to shift or tear inside of her.

It was then that they both heard the dripping and then the splashes of blood as it had hit the tiled floor.

He had sent for a maid to fetch their mother, who had arrived quickly with a midwife behind her. Both of them worried and rightfully so when they had taken in the scene in Thora's room.

Thora didn't want him to stay with her in her room when her mother and the midwife came. Loki had wanted to stay with her, but Thora had been adamant, despite the paleness of her face and the blood soaking the bottom of her gown. She hadn't let him stay.

He would have disobeyed her if she hadn't doubled over from the pain and their mother had given him a pleading look and hustled him out of the room with promises to fetch him once...once it was all done.

Loki shuddered as he looked at the notched candle that he had lit to mark the time. It had burned down three notches already and their mother hadn't sent word. He shoved the book away and paced a slow circuit around his room, trying to calm down and not think the worst.

Their mother wouldn't keep this from him. Loki knew that. But the silence was unnerving and his mind had started to conjure up the worst scenarios. Most of them involving the colourless and lifeless face of his sister lying on a pillow and a squalling, pale blue child alive in their mother's arms.

The knock on his chamber door had dissipated that last vision and he had never been so grateful in his life to see his mother's maid waiting for him to follow her. Although she refused to say anything, it wasn't a silence that set his teeth on edge with fear. It was somber, but not hysterical, which he was sure would be the case if Thora hadn't-He cut that thought off quickly before it could reach its inevitable and wholly unpleasant conclusion.

Loki followed the maid to Thora's room. Her door was wide open and there was a parade of maids with bloodied and clean linen coming in and out of the chamber. The midwife was nowhere to be found and his mother was sitting beside the bed, holding his sister's hand.

"How is she?" He asked hoarsely, taking the other chair next to their mother.

"Sleeping. She's completely worn out." Their mother replied in a hushed voice, her thumb moving in slow circles over Thora's hand, which had turned an old ivory shade with how much blood she had lost.

"What happened to the child?" Loki asked, wondering if that was the reason for the midwife to not be present. That she was settling the child in the royal nursery.

She breathed deeply before she answered him.

"It was stillborn."

Loki nodded.

"Did she know?"

Frigga shook her head. "She was unconscious by that time. She lost quite a lot of blood. But she will recover physically at least. Mentally...we have yet to know."

"A small mercy for her, at least."

Loki replied, feeling only a slight twinge of guilt at speaking the words. But he also knew that if he had to choose between them, he would have chosen Thora every single time.

"Yes. A small mercy indeed."

Loki didn't say anything else and watched his sister sleep. There was nothing else to be said.

~*~*~*~

Loki visited her every day, bringing her small treats and reading to her as he had when she had been younger and bed ridden. She hadn't really reacted at first, only looked at him with glassy eyes and replying with short answers in a dull voice.

But he kept on coming and in time, she gained her strength and started to talk to him again.

The Allfather never spoke of his worries outloud, but he always looked older and more careworn whenever he'd finish visiting his daughter. Frigga had only sighed and shaken her head, but she would always insist that Thora would eventually come back to them, once her sorrow had passed.

She never spoke of the child.

He never brought it up.

They remained locked in an uneasy truce until the Spring Equinox.

She was completely dressed, her red hair pulled away from her face in the braids that framed it and wearing the red cloak he had given her for her last birthday over a grey wool dress. She was wearing the heavy golden earrings and bracelets he had given her the year before and she was smiling at him.

It was faint and it barely reached her storm grey eyes, but it was a smile nonetheless.

"Walk with me, brother. I would like to see the Spring again."

He nodded and put the book down on the table near the door before taking her hand and tucking it into his, relief flooding through him as she accepted his gesture without flinching or pulling back.

"It would be my pleasure, sister."

END


End file.
